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About the conductor

David Newman

DAVID NEWMAN is one of today’s most accomplished creators of music for film. In his 25-year career, he has scored over 100 films, ranging from War of the Roses, Matilda, Bowfinger, and Heathers, to the more recent The Spirit, Serenity, and Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. Newman’s music has brought to life the critically acclaimed dramas Brokedown Palace and Hoffa; top-grossing comedies Norbit, Scooby-Doo, Galaxy Quest, The Nutty Professor, The Flintstones, Throw Mama From the Train; and award-winning animated films Ice Age, The Brave Little Toaster, and Anastasia. The recipient of top honors from the music and motion picture industries, he holds an Academy-Award nomination for his score to the animated feature, Anastasia, and was the first composer to have his piece, 1001 Nights, performed in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Filmharmonic Series, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Newman is also a highly sought-after conductor and appears with leading orchestras throughout the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Score Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, New Japan Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, and the American Symphony. He has led subscription weeks with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and regularly conducts the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. The 2011/12 season sees his debuts with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a return engagement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as his fifth consecutive appearance at the Hollywood Bowl for its acclaimed movie night, The Big Picture, in September.

He is also an active composer for the concert hall; his works have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, and at the Ravinia Festival, the Spoleto Festival USA, and Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival. Newman has spent considerable time unearthing and restoring film music classics for the concert hall, and headed the Sundance Institute’s music preservation program in the late 1980s. During his tenure at Sundance he wrote an original score and conducted the Utah Symphony for the classic silent motion picture, Sunrise, which opened the Sundance Film Festival in 1989. As a tribute to his work in film music preservation, he was elected President of the Film Music Society in 2007, a nonprofit organization formed by entertainment industry professionals to preserve and restore motion picture and television music.

Passionate about nurturing the next generation of musicians, Newman serves as President of the Board of the American Youth Symphony, a 43-year-old pre-professional orchestra based in Los Angeles, where he launched the three-year Jerry Goldsmith Project. In 2007 he wrote the children’s melodrama Yoko and the Tooth Fairy for the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, CA, and in 2010 he served on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival in the Film Scoring Program. When his schedule permits, he visits Los Angeles-area high schools to speak about film scoring and mentor young composers.

The son of nine-time Oscar-winning composer Alfred Newman, David Newman was born in Los Angeles in 1954. He trained in violin and piano from an early age and earned degrees in orchestral conducting and violin from the University of Southern California. From 1977-1982 he worked extensively in the motion picture and television industry as a violinist, playing on such films as E.T., Twilight Zone – the Movie, and the original Star Trek film. He is married to wife Krystyna and is the father of two girls, Diana and stepdaughter Brianne. He and Krystyna divide their time between Los Angeles, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and New York.